Good Eatin’ – Flageolets + Vichy Mints = 700!

I have written many times about the pace slowing down for the 1001 food list only for me to be proven wrong. As of today, I have eaten my way through 700 different foods from this list in just over three and a half years. Will I have reached 750 by this time next year? I don’t know, but it’s going to be fun to try.

List Item: Try three quarters of the 1001 Foods You Must Try Before You DieProgress: 699/751Food item: Green Flageolets

I picked up this bag of flageolets back when I bought the rocamadour cheese. I’ve waited for ages to find a meal to have these with and figured that it would be nice for New Years Day with some pork belly. That was a plan for lunch anyway….

Right, so the recipe that I used from MyRecipes said that this would take four hours in the slow cooker. Nine hours later and then the beans were actually ready. The carrots were getting mushy, but at least the beans were cooked. At least I had some pearl barley to make up for the lack of sides.

The thing that sets flageolets apart is that they are picked pre-mature in order to preserve the green colour. This means that they have more chlorophyll , resulting in a slightly metallic (or more minerally) taste than regular beans. Also, the beans have a creamy texture which, although not worth nine hours of waiting, makes these nicer than butter beans. Also helps that these were flavoured with garlic and some herbs.

List Item: Try three quarters of the 1001 Foods You Must Try Before You DieProgress: 700/751Food item: Vichy Mints

Here we are, number 700. Can you believe that I spent £12 on tin of mints? I certainly can’t. Then again this tin does come from France, seeing as these mint pastilles are made from water from the spa town of Vichy. Sounds a bit exclusive right? I mean, the water from this town was especially mentioned in In Search For Lost Time for it’s medicinal properties.

These Vichy mints were first invented in 1825 and soon became popular with members of the aristocracy. I assume that this is the reason for these mints in particular to be put on the list rather than a more general peppermint or Altoids (which were invented back in 1780).

As mints go, the Vichy mints are very refreshing. They aren’t too strong or two sweet like a lot of the other mints you can buy. Honestly they are one of the better breath mints that I have had, but I wouldn’t pay £12 for the pleasure. Still they’re worth trying and make for an interesting 700th food item crossed off the list.